Abhinav, Gautami combine to win India’s second gold at Suhl Junior World Cup

SUHL, 4 Jun: Indian shooters Gautami Bhanot and Abhinav Shaw combined well to claim the gold medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event at the ISSF Junior World Cup here on Sunday.
The Indians shot a total of 17 in the gold medal contest.
Oceanne Muller and Romain Aufrere of France settled for the silver medal in the event with an aggregate score of 7 in the final.
Norway’s Pernille Nor-Woll and Jens Olsrud Oestli finished third on the podium after scoring 17 in the bronze medal match against Italians Anna Schiavon and Luca Sbarbati, who shot 13.
The other Indian pair in the mixed rifle event, Swati Chowdhury and Saalim finished seventh in the qualification with a total score of 624.3.
The duo of Gautami Bhanot and Abhinav were second in the qualification, with a total score of 628.3.
Meanwhile, in the 10m air pistol mixed team competition, Sainyam, fresh from her gold medal-winning feat in the individual air pistol final on Saturday, paired up with Abhinav Choudhary to win silver after shooting 12, finishing behind gold medallists Juri Kim and Kanghyn Kim, who shot 16.
Suruchi Inder Singh and Shubham Bisla bagged the bronze medal with a score 16, finishing ahead of fourth-placed Nigina Saidkulova and Mukhammad Kamalov (14) of Uzbekistan.
Sainyam, who won the individual women’s air pistol gold on Saturday, and Abhinav had topped the qualification with a combined effort of 578, while Suruchi and Inder had finished fourth with a score of 571, to make it to the medal rounds.
In the skeet competitions, the Indians could not make it beyond the qualification rounds. In junior men’s skeet, Ritu Raj Bundela shot 116 for a 19th place finish while Abhay Singh Sekhon ended on a score of 115 to be placed 21st.
Munek Batulla was 26th after having shot 113 while Harmehar Lally was further back with a score of 111.
In junior women’s skeet, Raiza Dhilon was the best Indian on show, finishing 11th with a score of 108. Muffaddal Deesawala was 14th with 106 and Sanjana Sood 16th with 106. (PTI)